1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clutch apparatus for an electric valve actuator, and more particularly to a clutch apparatus for an electric valve actuator, in which, where a manual handle is operated by an operator in a state that a power supply is stopped in a main motor, a coupling state between the manual handle and the main motor is released and the main motor is separately driven during a re-supply of the power, whereby preventing a safety accident of the operator.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a valve, which is formed at a flow passage of a pipe, serves to control a flux or a pressure of a fluid. The valve includes an opening and closing portion for opening and closing the flow passage of the pipe in order that the fluid is passed through or blocked off it.
However, in the conventional art, since the opening and closing operation of the opening and closing portion is manually performed, there are problems in that it has a difficulty in accurately controlling the flux or the pressure of the fluid and spends lots of energy for operating the opening and closing portion.
In order to solve the above problems, a motor axis of the motor is connected to the opening and closing portion so as to perform the opening and closing operation of the opening and closing portion according to the rotation of the motor axis and a handle axis of a manual handle is engaged with one side of the motor axis so as to manually perform the opening and closing operation of the opening and closing portion through the manual handle in an emergency. However, since the manual handle engaged with the motor axis is rotated together with the motor axis during driving of the motor, there are problems in that it spends an unnecessary energy for rotating the manual handle in an automatic mode and shortens the life span thereof.
Also, where the manual handle is operated by the operator in a state that the power supply is stopped in the main motor, since the manual handle is suddenly rotated according to the driving of the motor axis during re-supply of the power, a safety accident of the operator of the manual handle can be occurred.
In order to solve the above problems, an automatic and hand-operated valve apparatus has been proposed,
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a conventional automatic and hand-operated valve apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional automatic and hand-operated valve apparatus includes an axis 311, which is coupled to a manual handle 310, vertically coupled to another axis 321, which is connected to an air motor 320 through a bevel gear 330; a bushing 340 having a clutch jaw 341; a jaw clutch 350 coupled to the axis 321, which is connected to the air motor 320; a first actuator 360 inserted into one side of the bushing 340; a second actuator 370 inserted into an outer surface of the jaw clutch 350; a spring (not shown) interposed between the first and second actuators 360 and 370; and an eccentric pin 311a, which is formed at an upper portion of the axis 311 of the manual handle 310, inserted into an elliptical hole, which is formed at a lower portion of the first actuator 360.
In the conventional automatic and hand-operated valve apparatus, the clutch is separated from the jaw of the bushing 340 and is coupled to the clutch jaw 341 of the entire rotation body through the elastic power of the spring (not shown) interposed between the first and second actuators 360 and 370 by operating the manual conversion lever, so that it can prevent the rotation of the bushing 340 during rotation of the axis 321 according to the operation of the air motor, thereby preventing the consumption of the unnecessary energy and the safety accident of the operator due to the companion rotation of the air motor 320 and the manual handle 310.
However, in the conventional automatic and hand-operated valve apparatus, the operation of the axis 321 of the air motor 320 and the clutch operation of the axis 311 of the manual handle 310 are manually performed. Hence, where the manual handle 310 is manually operated in a state that the power supply is stopped in the air motor in case of a blackout etc., since the manual handle 310 is rotated together with the air motor 320, the safety accident of the operator of the manual handle 310 can be still occurred. Also, since the coupling structures between each component element are complicated, there are problems in that the failure thereof can be remarkably increased and the manufacturing cost can be added.